Seventh day of cyber attacks: NoName057(16) hits banks and telecommunications

The cyber attacks that are hitting Italy have not yet stopped. We have reached the seventh consecutive day of DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks by the pro-Russian hacktivist group known as NoName057(16).

Targets hit: Banca Popolare di Bari, Poste Mobile and Coop Voce

This morning, at 10:31, NoName057(16) launched an attack against Banca Popolare di Bari, making its site unreachable. Furthermore, it also affected the Poste Mobile website, which is only accessible from Italy thanks to the activation of geolocking, and the Coop Voce website, which can also only be reached in Italian territory.

Geolocking: a strategy to limit access to online content

Geolocking, also known as geoblocking, is a technique used to limit access to online content based on the user's geographic location. In practice, this technique prevents users from accessing certain online content or services if they are not located in a specific geographic area or region.

In the case of DDoS attacks, enabling geolocking can reduce the attack power of infected computers that send malicious requests to the target server. Consequently, it will not be possible to access the service (website) either from legitimate clients or from illicit bots, if you are not located in a specific geographical area.

The nature of DDoS attacks and mitigation measures

DDoS attacks are a common form of cyber attack that aims to overwhelm a computer system or network with a huge amount of illegitimate traffic. Unlike other types of cyber attacks, which attempt to infiltrate or compromise a system, DDoS attacks focus on service unavailability, making resources inaccessible to legitimate users.

To mitigate a DDoS attack, there are several techniques that can be used based on your specific needs and system configuration. You can reduce connection timeout, limit the number of connections per IP, use a reverse proxy server or application firewall, or rely on DDoS mitigation services like Akamai or CloudFlare. The ultimate solution to protect your web server from DDoS and Slow HTTP attacks is to implement application firewalls such as Web Application Firewalls (WAF).